Professor Zoom
History Origin Eobard Thawne was a wealthy young man living in the 2460s. He longed for the heroic age of the 20th century. Foremost among the super-heroes, in his mind, was Barry Allen, the second Flash. He worshipped him as a hero and as a friend. He knew everything about Barry, keeping a collection of memorabilia about his hero. At the center was Barry's biography, The Life Story of the Flash by Iris Allen. Barry's life became as real to Eobard as did his own. He underwent a Plastomorph operation to make himself look like Barry. One day, he came across Barry's Cosmic Treadmill in an antique store. He killed the cashier in order to acquire this Holy Grail of Flash collectibles. Now, Eobard had the means to meet his idol. All he had to do then was to somehow duplicate the reaction that gave Barry his superspeed. The ordeal cost him his fortune and shaved years off his life, but he now had the chance to become Barry's friend and partner. Grabbing the biography for an autograph, Eobard set off to the 20th century on the treadmill. Becoming Barry Allen However, the treadmill's calibration had been affected by the centuries of not being used. It miscalculated his arrival, and Eobard appeared several years after Barry's death, when Wally West was the Flash. His journey had been pointless, or so he thought. Eobard visited the Flash Museum. There, he learned that he was destined to become the Flash's greatest villain: Professor Zoom. This drove Eobard mad. He began to honestly believe he was Barry Allen. He showed up at Wally's door on Christmas Eve dressed as Barry. For several months, he patrolled the streets of Central/Keystone with Wally as the Flash. Everything went well and everyone was happy until he began to go mad again. During one battle with the Combine, a Combine agent started to brag that he had killed the Flash after blasting Wally with a cannon. Eobard began to beat him up, saying, "I'm the Flash!" This is when Wally realized that something was wrong, that he was not Barry. After leaving Wally to die in a Combine trap, Thawne began to completely turn around, fighting Wally, Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, and Johnny Quick. Finally, after finding the biography that Eobard had brought with him in an alley, Wally deduced the villain's true identity. In a showdown at the Flash Museum, Thawne switched to the predominantly yellow costume of his future self, Professor Zoom. Finally, Wally managed to trick Zoom into returning to his own era on the cosmic treadmill. Thawne retained no memories of this journey--but he was left with a deep and bitter hatred for Barry Allen. The death of Professor Zoom Thawne began a career as a criminal in his home era. The police department and his fellow crooks knew him as the Professor due to his scientific leanings. The Flash remained one of his favorite characters of history, but now he hated him because the hero stood for law and justice and he stood for the reverse. One day in 2463, a time capsule materialized out of the air. Inside were many relics from the 20th century, including a genuine costume used by the Flash. He amplified the super-speed wave patterns contained in the suit using a simple 25th century technique, giving him super-speed when he put in on. He dyed the costume the reverse in color of its original hues. Naming himself Professor Zoom, he decided to become the greatest criminal in human history. His first crime was to steal the famous Cribi sculptures. However, Barry Allen, on a rescue mission to destroy an atomic clock that was also in the time capsule and had become an atomic bomb during time travel, that kill zoom. The authorities of the future had placed Zoom in a prison enclosed by invincible radiation, even feeding him radiation, so that no one would ever need to go in his cell. However, he used the radiation of the cell to increase his mental capacity, to the point where he could actually follow through with his most recent twisted plan. Wanting to enjoy the double life of Barry Allen, he used his enhanced brain power to switch places with the Flash, sending him to the 20th century and Barry into his own cell in the future. Changing Barry's electric shaver into a matter distributor, Zoom changes his face to make it look like Barry's. Of all nights, this happened to be the night before Barry's wedding to Iris West. However, in the future, the real Barry escaped the radiation cell by using his costume ring's chemical formula to have a shrinking effect on the energy wall, and then vibrated through it. He traveled back to the 20th century, where he broke up his own wedding, which was in progress, and took Zoom outside, where they battled. After the Flash defeated Zoom, the authorities from the future whisked Zoom back to his own era for conviction. The Return to The 20th Century Eventually, Zoom came back to the 20th century. Here, he fell in love with Barry's wife, Iris. His plan was to lead the life of a criminal, destroy the Flash, and claim Iris as his own wife. He successfully started his criminal career, establishing a heroin-smuggling ring. One day, he came to Iris, and asked her to either leave Barry for him or die. At a costume party the next day, Zoom asked Iris what she had decided. She slapped him, saying that even if she didn't love Barry so much, she would never let him lay a hand on her. Zoom had one of his henchman drug Barry with "angel-dust." Barry felt dazed and Iris went to get him a glass of water. She entered a room where the deranged convict, Clive Yorkin was hiding out. Here, Zoom vibrated to invisibility and slipped his vibrating hand through Iris' skull, fatally damaging the molecules in her brain. Obviously, all the evidence pointed to Yorkin. However, Barry, from the security video of the murder, determined that only a person with super-speed could commit a murder invisibly. He chased Zoom through the ocean to Zoom's cosmic-powered time-tripper. They went backwards through time, and Barry left Zoom to face doom alone. Zoom eventually returned, however. He showed up at what was supposed to be Barry Allen's second wedding, to Fiona Webb. However, Barry Allen never showed up, but Zoom did, and Flash, desperate to save Fiona's life, clotheslined Zoom at super-speed--the sudden stop snapped Zoom's neck, killing him instantly.Afterwards, five Rogues, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, and Trickster, stole Zoom's corpse from the morgue and held a special ceremony atop an isolated column of rock thirty miles north of Central City. They destroyed his coffin in rage, cursing him for having been killed by their nemesis. thumb|left|150px|Barry comes to bring Thawne back home A Legacy of His Own Long after Thawne's death, Hunter Zolomon, a depressed former Rogue profiler took up the mantle of simply Zoom after recieving power to manipulate time from an accident on the cosmic treadmil. His suit was much like Thawne's with a few minor differences, such as the lightning bolt on his emblem being reversed from Flash's. In an attempt to make the current Flash, Wally West, relive his worst day, Zolomon captured Jay Garrick and used him to power the cosmic treadmill in order to travel to the day that Thawne was killed by Barry. Zolomon was unable to work the treadmill on his own due to his powers running on time and not on kinetic energy like most other speedsters. Zolomon recruited Thawne and the two Reverse Flashes returned to the present, with Jay Garrick as prisoner. After a brief fight with Wally West and Kid Flash, Bart Allen, the pair of Zooms took Flash onto the cosmic treadmill. Thawne powered the treadmill and brought it back to the day when Zolomon killed Wally's unborn children. Zoom and Professor Zoom forced Wally to watch his wife lose their children over and over again. Their torture was interrupted when Barry Allen emerged from his own cosmic treadmill. He saved Wally, stating that he followed Thawne from the past, before launching back into the battle, to combat the Reverse Flash of his time. Barry brought Thawne back to the past, to the day when he broke his neck. Things played out just as they were supposed to and Eobard Thawne was killed by the Flash. The Rebirth of Barry Allen thumb|right|The Reverse-Flash's return in The Negative Speed Force|200px Thawne somehow returned from beyond the grave and when he did, he recreated the accident that had given Barry Allen his powers. He turend himself into a new kind of a speedster and created the Negative Speed Force, the crimson lightning that opposed the golden lightning of the Speed Force. Using his Negative Speed Force, Thawne traveled back in time to different points in Barry Allen's life, subtley tampering with the course of events, making The Flash's life be filled with pain and sorrow. One of these events even, was when he murdered Nora Allen, Barry's mother, an act that before, had never happened. This changed the course of history and only Thawne remembered the old one where Barry had lived a happy life with his family. The Reverse-Flash then ripped Barry out of the Speed Force when Darkseid was using his Anti-Life Equation to take over the world. But when Thawne did this, he intentionally corrupted him with traces of the Negative Speed Force. Barry managed to help stop Darkseid but shortly after he felt very different and it wasn't just because he had returned after being gone for so long. Barry was transformed by the crimson lightning into the new Black Flash, unintentionally killing any speedster he touched. After killing both Savitar and one of his followers accidentally, he ran as fast he could, attempting to merge back with the Speed Force so he wouldn't be a such a danger to his friends and family. He burnt off the effects of the Negative Speed Force that had corrupted him by generating so much of his own speed but when he arrived in the very thick of the Speed Force itself, he found fellow speedsters Max Mercury and Johnny Quick being held captive by Thawne, who was spreading his red lightning across the Speed Force. left|thumb|150px|Thawne reveals the truth about the death of Barry's mother Thawne revealed the origins of the Negative Speed Force to Barry and explained that he had been the one to bring him back to the real world. Barry attempted to fight his archenemy within the sea of red lightning but Thawne quickly grew bored and left the Speed Force, hoping to finish what he had planned to have Barry do as Black Flash; kill the other speedsters. Thawne arrived at Wally West's home where he attacked Wally's children, Jai and Iris. He untangled the "knots" of the Speed Force they had had, leaving them in great pain. He was then ambushed by Jay Garrick and Kid Flash. He fought them across the city, holding the upperhand until Barry managed to pull out of the Speed Force again, this time with Max Mercury and Wally West behind him. The speedsters led an all out attack on the Reverse-Flash but Thawne continued to hold his own. Iris West, who had absorbed her brother's connection to the Speed Force in order to have super speed, and Liberty Belle arrived to aid the others, forcing Thawne back. Knowing he was outnumber and outmatched, the Reverse-Flash grabbed his counterpart, and took Barry back into the Negative Speed Force. He told him of how he had tampered with the time stream and changed Barry's life. He revealed that he had been the one to murder Barry's mother and then quickly left Barry alone, traveling back in time to kill Iris Allen the day before her and Barry's first date. thumb|right|110px|Thawne imprisoned Barry pursues, Thawne, with the help of Wally. They intercepted him seconds before he would have murdered Iris. They chase him and fight him with Thawne revealing to Wally that one of Wally's children will destroy him. Barry refuses to believe everything Thawne says and pushes him back to the future, where the Barry's allies have reconstructed the machine that they had tried to use on Barry to seperate his connection from the Speed Force when he was Black Flash. They pushed Thawne into the machine and activated it, cutting him off from the Negative Speed Force. It was said that if he was able to run though, he would generate it once again and he'd be back to full power so they restrained him with chains and brought him to Iron Heights. Thawne was hung upside down by a strange machine, immobilized and unable to move. His cell though, was very near to Hunter Zolomon, Zoom. Zolomon believed that the two of them could help each other get better. thumb|right|250px|Thawne as a Black Lantern A Resurrection of His Own When Black Power Rings descended on the Earth, bringing the dead back to life as Black Lanterns, Barry remembered what Thawne had said in the Negative Speed Force about having had a resurrection of his own soon. Barry came to the conclusion that the Reverse-Flash who he had fought shortly before in the Negative Speed Force had come from some time after his revival from having his neck broken. The only problem was that he didn't know the specifics of how he had been revived though suspected in may be because of these mysterious Black Power Rings. One of these rings flew into Eobard Thawne's grave and went onto the deceased man's finger, downloading his memories and transforming him into a Black Lantern. However, due to having had Barry snap his neck before The Flash's sacrifice against the Anti-Monitor, the Black Lantern Reverse Flash did not know of Flash's death and rebirth. He immediately targeted Barry and had a brief confrontation before Barry managed to flee. Thawne reappeared to Barry when The Flash was busy fighting his recently turned Black Lantern grandson, Bart Allen. Seeing Barry being transformed by a blue power ring into a Blue Lantern, Thawne noted how he'd always been trying to rip Barry's hope away but now that he fed on emotion in people hearts as a Black Lantern, he wanted him to feel as much hope as he could. Wally West arrived and temporarily dispatched Thawne.thumb|left|250px|Reverse-Flash put on ice Thawne reformed though and a battle commenced with Thawne desperately attacking Barry in a attempt to make him hope enough to rip his heart out. Meanwhile, at Iron Heights, the Rogues were battling their revived comrades. The Reverse-Flash who had come to the past from the near future and attacked Barry with the Negative Speed Force, was locked inside a cell after being defeated by The Flash in their epic battle. During the fight between the two Rogue groups, the Black Lanterns seemed to be drawn to Thawne's cell and when they peered inside, his chest illuminated with a strange symbol very similar ot the Black Lantern Corps' own. This distraction allowed Captain Cold to freeze them and then drop a grenade that froze the entire prison. The present Thawne, the Black Lantern, seemed to experience what his future self was and froze on the spot. Mysteriously when the Flashes investigated his frozen body, they could see the reflection of the future living Thawne. Thawne was one of twelve people revived when the white light destroyed Nekron and almost the moment he came back Barry tried to catch him but Thawne escaped, going back in time and beginning the plot that ended up bringing Barry back from the Speed Force and eventually landed Thawne in prison, explaining how he came back from the dead and launched his plan to torment Barry's life. Powers and Abilities Powers *He can run at near-light speeds,vibrating through solid objects or temporal dimensions. According to Wally West, Thawne was on par with Barry prior to his discovery of the Negative Speed Force. Now, tapping into the Negative Speed Force, Thawne possesses many many powers he had never had before. He is able to travel back in time at will, tamper with other speedsters' connection with the Speed Force such as untying blockages of their powers to put them in great pain or removing the aura that protected them from friction. He also was able to contaminate Barry with his crimson lightning. Abilities *Though not a skilled combatant, his brilliant mind led him to use his speed dangerously. Equipment *Black Lantern Power Battery Weapons *Black Lantern Power Ring Other Media *In the Flash television show, Barry, while pretending to be the scientist who "created" The Flash, calls himself "Professor Zoom." *In the season two finale of Justice League Unlimited, Brainiac created evil robot versions of the Justice Lords. The Flash's counterpart wore the reversed colors like the Zooms. The overall costume was a reversal of Wally West's costume, not Barry Allen's. *In Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!" Zoom leads Barry, Jay and Wally (as Kid Flash) into a time trap that leads to his time. Thanks to Barry's quick thinking, he is the only one capture by Zoom to be used in a special dynamo that give his troopers (called the Speed Force) super speed and increased his own as well. When the other two Flashes and Batman arrive they manage to free flash who, despite the speed advantage of the dynamo, defeats Zoom. Here while the character is Eobard Thawne, his costume matches the one wore by Hunter Zoloman. He is voice by John Wesley Shipp (who played Barry Allen in the live action Flash TV series). See Also *Professor Zoom/Gallery Notes *Coming Soon Trivia *Coming Soon Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Eobard_Thawne_(New_Earth) *http://www.comicvine.com/professor-zoom/29-18340/ 2 Category:Former Black Lantern Corps Members Category:White Lantern Corps Members